Banquet honors Juvenile Court's "volunteer army"

honored at banquet

An army of volunteers, twice as many as paid workers, help reach out to Memphis' most troubled youths.

About 500 give of their time at Shelby County Juvenile Court to help reach wayward teens and protect minors who are abused and neglected. They were honored Friday night at an annual banquet at the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person said court couldn't run without the volunteers, including the 235 auxiliary probation officers.

"They save the taxpayers almost a million a year for over 30,000 hours of supervised probation," the judge said.

Chaplain Tommy Smith has served as a probation officer for 43 years.

That means making calls, knocking on doors and checking with schools to ensure the youths on his watch are in school, making good grades, staying out of trouble and at home by curfew.

He's supervised about 80 youths.

"Some of them are now fathers and ministers and entrepreneurs," Smith said. "It's quite rewarding to change the lives of these young people."

He said many of the youths were raised by overwhelmed single parents, and in many cases grandmothers, who are anxious for his help.

"I tell them: 'We're here for support. We're not the police,'" he said.

For the past six years, former minister and volunteer Don Todd has regularly visited with juvenile detainees in lockup, giving inspirational talks.

"I get to interact with them a lot and talk about their purpose," said Todd, who also ministers to adult prisoners and the homeless. "It's a great opportunity to plant a seed."

He said he often gets surprised looks when he tells the youths at the juvenile jail: "I'm glad I'm here and I'm glad you're here."

But when he explains his visits to the adult jail to see juveniles who are awaiting trial as adults, they realize their legal predicament could be much worse.

"I tell them: 'This is your wake up call,' " Todd said.

He tells them they have worth and focuses them on the good they can do with their life. One teen he talked with earlier Friday told him he decided to become "a wealthy architect."

Volunteer Sam Sehnert said he has been a volunteer for about 10 years, first talking to jail detainees and now overseeing youths on probation.

Sehnert, himself a former troubled youth, was able to turn his life around with the help of caring church members, court staff and teachers.

"I almost slipped through the cracks even with all of that help," he said.

Now a business development manager, Sehnert uses his past to bond with and help wayward teens.

State Rep. John Deberry praised all of the volunteers, saying: "You're helping people live better lives."

Veteran court volunteer Proctor Wilson suffered a series of strokes and longtime volunteer Robert Carter had open heart surgery twice, but both said they don't intend to stop working with kids who need them.

Rick Powell, who oversees the Juvenile Detention Center, said the volunteer army is about to get more foot soldiers as training for mentors gets under way Saturday.